I missed Friday-Oops!

It has been a busy week and I honestly lost track of the days. So I missed the Friday FaceOff - but in reality it was not posted at the normal time. So I am a day late.  

I am still quilting on the bargello quilt but haven't taken any new photos of it.  I did go to a concert at the local venue. The band was Sawyer Brown, they were on Star Search in the 1980s and managed to go on to a 40 year career (and still going) in the music business. 

Mark Miller-singing and Gregg "Hobie" Hubbard playing keyboards are original members of the band. 

It was a sell-out crowd and I was very happy to be on the third row. Several times the crowd was on their feet.  I did lots of singing along Ha ha. 

I am still smiling. 

I am linking up with the "Friday Face Off"

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

A Small Quilting Update-Bargello

The bargello quilt was put aside while I did the "special" project that I showed sneak peeks of last Friday. But now it is going back under the needle as I have time to work on it.  I had (?foolishly?) mentioned that I was going to do organic lines and that I "may add some small motifs randomly on the lines"

Of course, one dear reader commented "I'm looking forward to seeing the random small motifs"  So naturally I feel compelled to add some of those random motifs in amongst the organic and wavy lines. 

First just some organic and wavy lines:

Then several random motifs close together:

A random pebble and a small wave:

And a couple of swirls:

At the bottom you may see a tiny "heartbeat-EKG" that almost got 

cropped out of the photo (oops!) 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

My Sister

A long time ago,  forty years to be exact,  my dear sister left this earthly plane
 due to a medical accident. 

A few years later, for an English Composition class, I wrote a short essay about my loss. On this anniversary of her birthday, I am sharing it with you. 

A Final Goodbye

        I stood  in the cemetery  looking down at the headstone. 

 The marker stated a name and two dates.  The first date is not within 

my memory.  The second date burns and pulls at the corners of my mind.  

 This date, May twenty-ninth, 1983, is a day that I cannot forget.  

You see, this plot of ground is my sister's resting place, and today I

 visited here , alone, for the first time.  As I visited this grave site,

I came to feel sadness, to accept loss, and to appreciate the release of 

emotions.  

 

        The cemetery was empty when I arrived. 

 There was a solitary car standing guard near the office building. 

The wind was blowing slightly, as the storm sirens began to sound.  My mind 

transformed the sirens into a funeral dirge that would not stop.  I longed 

to sing that same sad tune if only to give voice to my sadness.

 

        My sadness was the result of a great loss.  When my sister died 

I experienced the loss of three people.  The first loss was obviously

 the loss of a beloved sister.  Yet she was far more than the word sister 

can describe.  In our younger years she had been my defender, and now I 

felt undeniably defenseless.  Most of all, I had lost a friend.  While I 

stood there, a sense of acceptance washed over me. Finally, I could accept

the loss and still keep the warm sweet memories of her impish smile and 

loving manner.  

        

        Emotion had overwhelmed me, causing tears to run down my face. 

 Feelings of grief, sorrow and loss were jumbled up carelessly among the

 feelings of love and devotion.  Having been able to release these emotions,

 I resolved to never put my feelings in chains again.  Now I will cherish 

the release of emotions.  

 

        Still standing by the headstone, I looked down, one last time,

 before leaving.  I saw the roses carved into the brass plate that stated 

only a name and two dates.  I knew that she would not wish for me to be 

sad or lonely, but I knew also that she would embrace the release of 

emotions.  Goodbye my sweet sister.

 

=================

Yes, I still miss her wit, her smile, her joy in life, and her love. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Friday 9-15-23

This week has flown by for me.   The first of the month, I got a gym membership and have been going at least 5 times a week.  I am already seeing improvements in my attitudes as well as in my body.  However, it does take up time each day.  So I have been a bit less productive. 

Mom, my brother and I did put together a puzzle in the past week. When I bought it, I thought "That looks pretty easy."  Ha! Looks can be deceptive. 

The blue blanket and the basket were the hardest parts.

But I just love the face on that yellow kitty. 

Since the cats have faces, I am linking up with DVArtist/Nicole for the Friday Face Off. 

Meanwhile, I decided to take a commission for a small wall quilt.  I normally don't do commission work as  I find that it tends to block my creative process. However, for this one I was told that there was only one suggestion - and I was certainly able to use the suggestion. So I took on the task. 

First up, I did a fabric pull for the background and the applique pieces. 

As lovely as those background fabrics are, I worked for most of a day trying to coax them into what I envisioned.  Finally I said "No, this just isn't going to work."  Hopefully, I can recycle parts of that piece into pieces for a book cover. 

Then I went into my batik stash box and pulled out an array of colors in batik. With those I created a totally different background.  This one is making me very happy.  I can't show you the entire thing because I don't know if the recipient reads my blog - and I don't want to spoil the surprise.  But here are two "hint" photos. 

I have more work to do to finish this piece but I am sure it will be loved by the recipient. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Horses from the Past - Plans for "next up"

A couple of years ago, I did a lot with machine embroidery work using horses. I made several quilted notebook covers.  Most of those were sold.  The first one below I am sure was sold quickly.  The embroidery design is one that I purchased and used on that lovely hand dyed fabric. 

The next one uses a horse design that I digitized for the embroidery machine. I think I did a darn good job on the digitizing on this one. Again, I used hand dyed fabric for the front cover and for the two strips on the back of the notebook.   I think this one sold also.  Of course, I can always make a similar one if someone would like to purchase one. 

Since the horses have faces, I am linking up with DVArtist/Nicole for the Friday Face Off. 

Meanwhile,  I have chosen a new project to complete. The top shown here was completed in January of 2020. (It is NOT the oldest un-quilted top in my pile.)  I didn't follow the kit directions for the pattern exactly. I decided to make the version shown that I call "Kissin' Cousins" 

 I have the back pieced together and the batting cut.  Next up it will be time to baste the layers together so that I can quilt it.  As there are so many seams in a bargello design, I have decided to quilt this with organic lines from top to bottom just to make it easy on myself. Some of the lines may end up being wavy if I get bored with doing the organic "straight" lines. And of course, I may add some small motifs randomly on the lines.  Ha ha.  I have a "changeable" plan at best.

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

 Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Friday - Quilt is Finished!

My latest project, the quilt for my bed is finished.  I finally got photos of it made to show you. 

First the front of the quilt

I love the variety of fabrics, the wild piecing, the orphan block areas, a couple of "special to me" fabrics - I love all of it. 

Now the back

There are some special fabrics on the back also. 

There are hand dyed fabrics, batiks, and somewhere near the center there is a piece that I stamped with a leaf stamp that I carved.  

The joining strips on this are not so obvious as they are scrappy, just like the quilt. The binding is also scrappy. 

Now as it IS Friday, I need a face to join the Face Off group. 

Here is one where you might recognize that guy in the middle:

That is one of my distant cousins in the center playing with his band. 

Left to right: Jason Mowrey,  Clint Black, and Hayden Nicholas

They really put on a good show. 

Here is a close up of Jason:

I was fortunate to be on the third row for this show, so I got a few good photos. 

I am linking up with DVArtist/Nicole for the Friday Face Off. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

More Progess

Those joining strips have been put to use and the quilt is finally one big piece.  It still needs quilting over the joined areas AND binding. 

And of course since it was on the bed I had to have a snuggle minute on it. And take a couple of selfies just for the heck of it.  

It may be a few days before I get the other parts done.  

Wow I love this quilt. 

Since my face is in this I am linking up with DVArtist/Nicole for the Friday Face Off. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

A bit of progress

Yesterday  I got the joining strips ready for the three pieces of my quilt that I have finished quilting.  I don't have photos of the three sections of quilt, but here are the joining strips, ready to be used. 

The quilt is very scrappy, so I thought the joining strips should be just as scrappy. 

Plus, these strips will repeat fabrics in the front and back of the quilt and add a few new fabrics just because I wanted to do  it. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

 Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Potpourri

Today's post is a potpourri of photos.  I have always been a doodler. For a while, I did a lot of Zentangle type doodles.  Many of them were done as ATC's (artist trading cards.)  Here is a small collection of them. 

Back when I was doing these, a blog reader told me "You are doing quilting designs, you should start quilting."  It was a few years later that a friend asked me to just sit in her quilting class and try to do what she was teaching. She said, I just want a friendly face in the room.   Ha, I think she knew that I would be hooked and become a quilter. 

Another love of mine is travel. I don't get to do it as much as I would like, but when I go, I usually take photos of things that strike me as interesting or happy.  While in Mexico, I saw this face over a doorway that made me smile, so I hope you smile too. 

And just for grins, here a a photo of a MUCH younger "me" with someone you just may recognize.  

I wish I still had all of that hair that I had then.  

And yes, that really is "her." We were both a lot younger then. 

I think this was made in the early '90s.

 I am linking up with DVArtist/Nicole for the Friday Face Off. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Another Skull

After using my digitizing software to create a skull design for my embroidery machine,  I decided I wanted a way to cut the fabric for the applique rather than cutting it by hand.  There are die cutting machines, like the Accuquilt Go - but you have to buy the dies for cutting and it is very expensive to get them to make a custom die.   I thought "If a Cricut can cut vinyl, why can't it cut fabric?"  So I  went looking for answers.   Supposedly it can.  My experience is that it doesn't do it well. 

I borrowed a Cricut from my Public Library. What?  Yes, they have a Library of Things that you can borrow and one of them is a Cricut.  I had ordered a fabric cutting blade for it.  After several attempts that failed I got one good cut.  So I will be returning the Cricut to the library knowing that I don't want or need to buy one. 

However,  the one good cut resulted in this fun piece. 

I do like the results although it isn't any better than my hand cut one. (and it was more work, not less!) 

Since a skull is  a form of a face,    I am linking up with DVArtist/Nicole for the Friday Face Off. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Friday Faces and a Song

Welcome to another Friday.  Today I decided to go searching through some travel photos for interesting faces to share.  All of these photos are from my trips to Mexico, specifically the Yucatan Peninsula. 

Travel is a great opportunity to see art from diverse creators.  This first photo is one that made me go "what on earth possessed the person to create this?"  And yet, I still find it interesting. 

Next up is a photo especially for Nicole, who loves skulls. As you may know, Day of the Dead is a  Mexican religious holiday celebrating ancestors. 

And wouldn't this be great to have by the front door to store umbrellas and walking sticks?

And yes, I had to get inside the Pizza guy and get a photo.  My first "real" job - the ones where they take half your pay in taxes - was as a cook in a pizza joint. 

As I was working on this quilt, I couldn't help being reminded of how I love to sew random pieces to make interesting quilt blocks. 

That brings me to the song.

I wrote this song when I was inspired by a quilt my grandmother made and gave to me. It isn't a pretty quilt, but it is filled with love and totally hand stitched. 

GeneBlack · Grandma's Quilt

Just in case that doesn't work for everyone, here is a link to SoundCloud where it is hosted. 

      I am linking up with DVArtist/Nicole for the Friday Face Off. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Section #2 quilted

You may remember that I told you that I am quilting this quilt in three sections. Yesterday afternoon, I finished quilting section #2.  The photos below are from the back of the quilt.  This quilt backing is pieced so that I can use the quilt with either side up depending entirely on my mood. 

This lovely fabric was gifted to me. As this quilt is for MY bed, I am sure I get to keep it and enjoy it. 

As you can see, I use a variety of quilting motifs.  And yes, I make up some of them as I go. As long as the tension is good and the quilt is going to hold together, I am happy with it. 

I love the textures that quilting creates. This quilt will have a wonderful texture. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

A Face in the Floor

One of the interesting things that the human brain does is to see human features in inanimate objects. At a friend's house, I saw this in the flooring:

I see eyes and a nose.  It reminds me of ET.

And here is my "face" singing an older song. 

You may need to click the play button twice or use this YouTube link

https://youtu.be/Sel-rwcUOyA

 I am linking up with DVArtist/Nicole for the Friday Face Off. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.